The Lost Humanism of Political Discourse

American Samizdat: Yes

My first use of Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man drawing, six years ago, later to become my inspiration for Homo Vitruvius.

There cannot be only a no. There must be a yes on which it stands. There has to exist an affirmative ground of values and ideas to support the resistant stand – in sinew of arms and legs extended from a torso’s core – against the negation of human dignity and freedom.

This, today, serves as a yes. Originally published in Arc Digital magazine in August 2018, I republish it here revised and updated it for today.

Three weeks from today, on January 18, 2025, two days before the inauguration, for the second time, of Donald Trump as president of the United States, a day to be dreaded, will come the resounding no.

In between the yes and the no on American Samizdat, subscribers will be able to read on Homo Vitruvius the penultimate chapter of Reason for Being in the World.

These are not different, divergent endeavors. The mission of American Samizdat, “art, culture, and ideas for a f…